MBC DOCTRINAL STATEMENT
1. PURPOSE OF MBC
The purpose of Manhattan Bible Church (MBC) is to glorify God by being a family of disciples of Jesus Christ who in turn make disciples. MBC shall seek to attain this end through public worship of God 1 , the preaching of the Scriptures 2 , consistent Christian living by its members 3, 4 , personal evangelism 5 , missionary endeavor 5 , and Christian education 6 . (Hebrews 10:25 1 , 2 Timothy 4:1-2 2 , Matthew 5:16 3 , 1 Peter 2:9-12 4 , Matthew 28:19-20 5 , Colossians 1:9-10 6 )
2. SCRIPTURES
We believe that all of Scripture, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, are sufficient and complete 8, 9 , fully inspired (God-breathed), wholly without error in the original manuscripts, the unique Word of God, written by men of God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit 1, 2 . We believe this Word is truth 3, 4, 5 , that its message, the Gospel, is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes by faith 6, 7 , and that it provides for the instruction, correction, and equipping of the believer 1 and is the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 1 , 2 Peter 1:21 2 , John 17:17 3 , 1 Thessalonians 2:13 4 , 2 Timothy 2:15 5 , Romans 1:16-17 6 , 2 Timothy 3:15 7 , Psalm 119:160 8 , Revelation 22:18 9 )
3. GODHEAD
We believe in one God eternally existing in three persons: God the Father 1, 2 , God the Son 2, 3, 4 , and God the Holy Spirit 2, 5 . We believe that these three are co-equal in power and glory, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, while carrying out distinct functions relating to each other and to all creation. (Romans 1:7 1 , Matthew 28:19–20 2 ; John 1:1-2, 1 3 , Colossians 2:9 4 , Acts 5:3-4 5 )
4. GOD THE FATHER
We believe in God the Father 1 perfect in holiness 2 , infinite in wisdom, measureless in power 3 . We rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer 4 , and that He saves from sin and eternal punishment all who choose to come to Him through Jesus Christ 5 . (Matthew 28:19 1 , Isaiah 6:3 2 , Psalm 147:5 3 , Psalm 145:14-18 4 , John 3:16 5 )
5. JESUS CHRIST THE SON
We believe that Jesus Christ is the exact image of the invisible God. We believe that He is the one and only Son of God and is the firstborn of all creation 9 . We believe that He existed equally with the Father from the beginning 1 , and that in the fullness of time He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary 2, 3 . We believe that in His becoming man, He surrendered none of His Divinity, but laid it aside in order to be sinless in His life as a man 10 , and with His death on the cross He made atonement for all the sins of the whole world 4 . We believein His bodily resurrection 5 , His ascension, 6 , His perpetual intercession for His people 7 and His personal visible return 8 . (John 1:1 1 , Galatians 4:4 2 , Matthew 1:18-25 3 , 1 John 2:2 4 , Mark 16:1-7 5 , Acts 1:9-11 6 , Hebrews 7:25 7 , 1 Thessalonians 4:16 8 , Colossians 1:15-20 9 , Philippians 2:8 10 )
6. HOLY SPIRIT
We believe in the Personality and deity of the Holy Spirit who participated in creation 1 and the authoring of the Scriptures 2 . We believe the Holy Spirit convicts men of sin 6, 13 , causes spiritual birth 3 , indwells 7, 8 , seals 12 , sanctifies 8 , guides 6 , equips 9 , teaches 6 , is a Helper 4, 5 and fills the believer 14 , thus enabling him to walk in obedience to God and His Word 10, 11, 14 . (Genesis 1:2 1 , 2 Peter 1:20-21 2 , John 3:5 3 , John 14:16-17, 26 4 , John 15:26-27 5 , John 16:7-15 6 , Romans 8:9, 14 7 , 1 Corinthians 6:11, 19 8 , 1 Corinthians 12:4-13 9 , 2 Corinthians 3:18 10 , Galatians 5:16-18, 22-23 11 , Ephesians 1:13-14 12 , Ephesians 4:30 13 , Ephesians 5:18-21 14 )
7. HUMAN CONDITION
We believe that man was created by God 2 in His own image 1, 4 to reflect Him in all goodness and righteousness. But the first man fell into sin through personal disobedience to the revealed will of God 3 ; and, as a result, all mankind inherits his sinful nature 10, 11 and practice and is unable to save himself 5, 6, 8, 9 , and faces God’s Justice of eternal punishment 7 . (Genesis 1:26-28 1 , 2:7, 18-24 2 , 3:1-24 3 , 9:6 4 ; Mark 7:21-23 5 ; John 8:42-44 6 ; Romans 1:18 7 ; 3:10-23 8 ; Ephesians 2:1-3 9 ; Romans 5:12 10 ; Romans 11:32 11 )
8. SALVATION
We believe that salvation is available to everyone in the whole world 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and was accomplished solely by the finished work of Christ both in His death and resurrection 5, 8, 13 , and no work on the part of any person can merit this salvation 6,9 . Whoever chooses to place their faith solely in the finished work of Jesus Christ receives the new birth (Regeneration) 2, 10, 11, 12, 14 , becomes a partaker of the divine nature, and thus becomes a child of God, and is declared righteous (Justification) once for all, forever 3, 4 . (1 John 2:2 1 ; John 3:16 2 ; 6:37 3 ; 10:27–30 4 ; 2 Corinthians 5:14 5 ; Ephesians 2:8–9 6 ; 1 Timothy 2:3-6 7 ; 1 Peter 1:18-19, 23 8 ; 2 Peter 1:3-4 9 ; Titus 3:5-7 10 ; 2 Corinthians 5:17 11 ; Romans 3:25 12 ; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 14 13 , John 5:24 14 )
9. THE CHURCH
We believe in the Church; a living spiritual body of which Christ is the Head and of which all regenerated believers are members 1, 2, 3 . We believe that a visible church is an interdependent unified body of believers in Jesus Christ. Church leaders 4, 5 shepherd the church 6, 7 , equipping believers to serve 8, 9, 10 in order to move the whole body toward maturity and unity. Believers gather to worship God together, to disciple one another, and to fellowship; they disperse to care for the needs of the body and to bear witness of Jesus Christ to the world 11, 12 . We believe that to these visible churches were committed, for perpetual observance, the ordinances of Believers Baptism and the Lord's Supper 13, 14,15 . (Ephesians 2:20-22 1 , Colossians 1:18 2 , 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 3 , 1 Timothy 3 4 , Titus 1:5-9 5 , Acts 20:28 6 , 1 Peter 5:1-4 7 , Romans 12:6-8 8 , 1Corinthians 12 9 , Ephesians 4:11-16 10 , Matthew 28:19-20 11 , Acts 2:42-47 12 , Luke 22:19-20 13 , 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 14 , Acts 2:38-41, 47-48 15 )
10. CHRISTIAN LIVING
We believe that every Christian has direct access to God through His Son 1, 2 and His Word 3 and is responsible to God 4 and the Body of Christ 5 in all matters of faith. We believe that Christians are called by God to submit to governing authorities 6 , though they must obey God over men 7 . We believe that every Christian should live a life separate from this present world 8, 9, 10 ; in short, that every Christian not only refrain from that which would weaken his spiritual life, but also to be careful not to be a stumbling block to another member of the Body of Christ 11 . (John 14:6 1 , Hebrews 4:14-16 2 , 1 Peter 1:23-25 3 , Romans 14:10-12 4 , Romans 12:4-8 5 , Romans 13:1-7 6 , Acts 5:29 7 , 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 8 , Galatians 5:16 9 , Hebrews 12:1-2 10 , Romans 14:13-23 11 )
11. LITERAL HISTORY & CREATION
We believe that chapters 1 – 11 of Genesis are rightly understood as accurate, literal history as Jesus and the New Testament affirm 1, 2, 3 . We believe that the biblical account of creation as recorded in Genesis 1 and 2 and consistently referred to in other passages 4, 5, 6 is to be accepted literally rather than figuratively or allegorically; that God created all things out of nothing by the power of His Word. We believe and teach that God did this in six days of twenty-four hours, rather than by evolutionary changes or developments through intermediate eons of time from lower to higher forms; that all plant and animal life was created directly and subsequently reproduced only after their kind 7 . (Matthew 19:4 1 , Matthew 24:37-39 2 , Romans 5:12-14 3 , Exodus 20:11 4 , Colossians 1:16-17 5 , Hebrews 4:3-4 6 , Genesis 1:11-12, 21-22, 24-25 7 )
12. CHRIST'S RETURN & REIGN AND OUR ETERNAL HOPE
We believe in the imminent return of Jesus Christ to rapture the Church Age saints 1, 2 , followed by the tribulation period 3 , and the visible return of Jesus Christ with His saints for His millennial reign on earth 4 . We also believe in and look forward to the culmination of our eternal hope, which is God dwelling with us forever in the new heaven and the new earth 5 . (1 Corinthians 15:51-57 1 ; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 2 ; Revelation 6-19 3 ; Revelation 20 4 ; Revelation 21 5 )
13. THE CHURCH & ISRAEL
We believe Scripture distinguishes between Israel and the Church 1 and that God will keep his promises to both 2 . (1 Corinthians 10:32 1 , Romans 11 2 )
14. HUMANITY
We believe God created humanity, both male and female, both reflecting the image and likeness of God 1 and neither being the product of evolution 2 . Each person’s biological sex has been sovereignly appointed by God and is an irreversible aspect of his or her nature 1,2 . Rejection of one’s God-ordained biological sexuality reflects a rejection of God’s plans and purposes 3, 4, 5 . God has established and revealed in Scripture a divine order to regulate humanity. Human institutions reflecting that order are marriage of a man and a woman 2, 6 , family 6 , and human government 7, 8 . (Genesis 1:1,26-27 1 , Genesis 2:18-25 2 , Romans 1:21-32 3 , Romans 3:10-12 4 , 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 5 , Colossians 3:18-21 6 , Romans 13:1-7 7 , 1 Peter 2:13-25 8 )
15. HUMAN SEXUALITY
We believe God created human sexuality as a good gift for both procreation and pleasure within the bounds of marriage. We believe that any form of sexual intimacy outside of marriage is both immoral and a perversion of God’s gift 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 . We believe any form of sexual immorality such as adultery, pre-marital sexual intimacy (fornication), homosexuality, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, pornography, cohabitation, and any attempt to change one’s genetically defined gender (both physically or mentally) is sinful and a perversion of God’s good, created order 6, 7 . We do believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ 8 . And we believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, and dignity. Hateful and harassing behavior, attitudes, or speech directed towards any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture 9, 10 . (Leviticus 18:1-30 1 , Proverbs 6:32 2 , 1 Corinthians 6:18 3 , Romans 1:26-27 4 , 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 5 , Leviticus 18-20 6 , Romans 1:18-32 7 , Romans 8 8 , 1 Peter 2:13-25 9 , 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 10 )
16. ANGELS, SATAN & DEMONS
We believe God created angels as spiritual beings with freedom of choice, having supernatural powers subject to God’s sovereign purposes 1, 2, 3 . As a result of Satan’s fall, both righteous and unrighteous angels (aka “demons”) exist. We believe Satan was a sinless being, created by God, who fell from that exalted position 4 , and so became the enemy of God, of God’s people 5, 6 and of all good by desiring to be equal with God. (2 Peter 2:4 1 , Jude 6 2 , Job 1-2 3 , Isaiah 14:12-17 4 , Ephesians 6:11-17 5 , 1 Peter 5:8-9 6 )
July 11, 2020